1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus for exchanging web-like material in a web-like material supplying device for aluminum foil, packaging material, etc. used in a cigarette packaging machine or other machines. More specifically, the apparatus includes a delivery portion having a connection station, reel holding portions provided at upstream ends thereof for supplying material through two transport paths. A reel for web-like material with the material wound thereon is detachably held on each of the holding portions, and the web-like material is alternately supplied from both the reel holding portions to a delivery path through the respective transport paths.
2. Description of Background and Relevant Information
An apparatus for exchange of web-like material in a web-like material supplying device of this kind has been disclosed, for example, in Japanese Patent Application No. 61-312561 (Japanese Patent No. 63-165259), in which an end of web-like material on a reel is held by an attraction surface and a keep pawl. An operating arm is then moved away from the reel, whereby the web-like material is drawn onto the transport path and thereafter the material is delivered by cooperation between a roller of the operating arm and a feed roller provided on the transport path and is fed into the connection station of the delivery path. In this way, drawing a web-like material is automated.
In the apparatus described above, an end of the web-like material peeled from a reel is fed into a transport path and a delivery path. Where a bonded portion of paste is adhered to the wound end portion of the web-like material to hold it to the outer periphery of the reel or where the web-like material is damaged during transportation or handling, the material may become clogged in the transport and/or the delivery path.
In the conventional construction of temporarily holding a web-like material in a web-like material supplying device as described above, it is essential to project the end of the web-like material from the outer peripheral end of the reel by a sufficient length capable of being attracted and held. However, a method of temporarily holding an end of a web-like material involves a problem in that paste is normally poured and applied by manual operation upon termination of the winding of the material. Therefore, unevenness in the temporarily holding force occurs due to a variation in pasting position or pasting area. As a result, inaccurate peeling-off of an end of the material from the reel results. In the case where a web-like material cannot be drawn or the temporarily holding force is stronger than needed, the surface of the material becomes peeled off and damaged during the peeling of the end. Another problem is that the pasting work takes time and increases the cost of materials.